A citizen group from Bengaluru prepared 50,000 rotis to feed flood victims in Karnataka and plans to prepare more
The rainfall in Karnataka is unceasing as the floods have caused havoc in South India. As per recent reports, more than 40 people have lost their lives and about 20 people are missing. Amidst the incessant rains and trouble, there are a handful of people who have come forward to help the flood victims in their own special way.
One such person is Nagendra, who, along with a team of volunteers is on a mission to distribute food to the victims of the flood. His team has a goal to prepare about 5 lakh jowar and wheat rotis to feed the people.
There was already a food drive for people affected by the flood. Another man named Pradeepa was serving rice and sambhar to the victims. However, people of Karnataka do not prefer eating this meal on their regular days. That’s when Pradeepa joined hands with Nagendra, and started feeding people with rotis and vegetable curry. The food caterers also serve chutney, thokku and pickles along with the rotis.
Nagendra, a resident of North Karnataka, owns a catering business. Looking at the terrible condition of people during this crisis, he decided to contribute his bit to the food drive. Currently, he is catering food in the region and plans to continue to do the same until the situation improves.
“We pooled in money and bought enough groceries to make 50,000 rotis,” he told a source.
The team would prepare 50,000 rotis every morning, which would approximately acquire 14,000 kg of flour and 400 liters of oil—the ingredients are allow crowd-funded for now.
The current season is of shravana masa in Karnataka, which is considered an auspicious time for weddings. However, Nagendra decided to put his catering business on hold, and focus on serving the victims for now.
His team set up a small shelter at Ittamadu in the first week of August, and is expected to finish the work by the end of this month.
After the setting up of kitchen and food, the issue of transportation was also solved mildly. The team spoke to the Lorry Owners Association president, Shanmugappa, who gladly agreed to help them with the delivery of food products.
“When Chennai faced a similar situation some years ago, we had send rice, blankets and other essentials by lorries. Every night, the trucks will leave from Rajarajeshwari Nagar and reach the destination the next morning. We intend to do this for at least 15 days. For now, we are sending food to a college near Athani in Belagavi districts where there are 15,000 people, who were evacuated from their villages, have been housed,” Pradeepa told a source as well.
12 districts of north-west and coastal parts of Karnataka, along with many other parts of South India have suffered terribly with unrelenting flood conditions. More than 1 lakh people have been evacuated from their homes and many are still missing. Let us just hope that the condition doesn’t worsen any more in the belabored state!
